Any tips on getting listings? (feedback, sales, banks, value)

[keeperk]

With the market being slow I've decided it's time to diversify my inventory from mostly just land ( a luxury purchase ) to homes (a needed purchase).

I'm in a small town and my office is very visable. I have a good reputation in town as honest, hard working and can sell. But also my reputation is I Only Sell Land. My new associate has picked up homes in her area(different county), singlewides, doublewides and cabins and those have sold fairly well.
I can pick up land listings all day long, in fact some lately I've turned down.
I'm not completly out of the home market as I do have a couple in the country for sale and a cabin.

Any tips on picking up home listings? My thoughts were mail out postcards and put an ad in the paper. I'm sure my big red Land Sales banner on my office won't generate home listings for me. Thanks, your feedback is most appreciated.

[shellytc]

You have got to start letting your sphere know that you know houses, not just land!! Ok, I know that was obvious. I would start by the simple way: call them!! You sold them land, did they build a house on it? put a trailer on it? anything? You need to call them, check in with them, and let them know you can do houses. And do they have friends or neighbors that might benefit from your expertise. Simple, call them.

[pocket23]

Well, for me direct mailing rules.
Another thing I want you to keep in mind is this. Real estate is always good to invest in, but you have to be aware of what stage of the cycle it is in. It doesn't always go up as people like to think, when the real estate cycle is in a downward phase, in some markets houses actually lose value. You must know what phase your local market is in before you buy any house or apartment. For example, in San Diego right now, appreciation is plummeting ... but you can still make money. While the market's tanking you have to stick with buying junkers super cheap from banks and wholesaling them to investors. That the only place where there is demand, among investors, and it's where you can keep your risk to a minimum so that's where you focus. Forget rehabbing or holding anything until the market recovers.
There's a fantastic research tool so you can know where your market is and make the right moves. Check it out. Real estate investing. research tool

[DanielChang]

Direct Mail and word-of-mouth.

Why not send a brochure to your existing clients with a market update and let them know you can take care of their residential listings, end-to-end. Good luck!